Jay and Silent Bob
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Jay and Silent Bob are two fictional characters who exist in the View Askewniverse created by actor/writer/director Kevin Smith. Jay, portrayed by Jason Mewes, is a horny, druggy, hyper, foul-mouthed, long-haired stoner/drug dealer. Silent Bob (whose real name could be Robert Blutarsky, according to an episode of Clerks: The Animated Series, but it could also merely be an offhand reference to the same joke in Animal House where John Belushi's character Bluto is said to have become Senator John Blutarsky), played by Smith, is his chubby, bearded best friend who, as his name suggests, rarely says anything. When he does, however, he often delivers it eloquently at a pivotal point in the narrative. In Chasing Amy, Bob reveals himself to be a lapsed Catholic.
Appearances
The two characters have appeared in the following movies:
- Clerks
- Mallrats
- Chasing Amy
- Dogma
- Scream 3 (cameo appearance)
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
- Clerks II
- Clerks: Sell Out (to begin production in 2007)
The characters were among the stars of the animated television series, Clerks: The Animated Series. In non-View Askewniverse continuity, they appeared in several episodes of the Canadian teen drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation broadcast in 2005. They also made contributions to VH1's retro documentary show "I Love the 90s," in advertisements for MTV in the mid-90s and in a Smith-directed advertisement for the public organization Declare Yourself.
The characters make appearances in five music videos, the first four were featured on the soundtrack of a Kevin Smith film:
- "Can't Even Tell" by Soul Asylum from Clerks.
- A cover of "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Goops from Mallrats.
- "Because I Got High" by Afroman from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back .
- "Kick Some Ass" by Stroke 9 from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
- "Sunshine" by Rubber.
In addition, the characters also appeared in a four-part comic book series from Oni Press that was published as a collection titled Chasing Dogma. In the overall narrative of the characters, this covered the time from the day before their scene in Chasing Amy to moments before we see them in Dogma. They also appeared in the Clerks comic books released by Oni Press.
The characters were also animated into the new "View Askew" animated logo, first shown before Smith's 2004 feature Jersey Girl.
Back story
Born in Leonardo, New Jersey, Jay met Silent Bob when both their mothers were inside the Quick Stop from Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Jay's excessive use of profanity was inherited from his mother, his first word being 'fuck'. His usage of the word was later omitted for the broadcast television series Clerks: The Animated Series. Jay and Silent Bob also abandoned their drug dealing in the Clerks cartoon, in favor of mischievously peddling fireworks. The characters are generally depicted as living in something of a 1980s cultural time warp, as Jay is obsessed with washed-up heavy metal bands, both are fixated on John Hughes' teenage comedy/drama movies as well as the film Purple Rain (and its featured act Morris Day and The Time), and, astoundingly, neither had any knowledge of the existence of the Internet until 2001 (as shown in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).
Template:Spoiler Sometime after the events of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and a few months before the events of Clerks II Jay and Silent Bob finally bought a car (However, it's probably assumed that the car was an automatic transmission car, as Jay demonstrated in Dogma that he doesn't know how to drive in manual transmission). During this time, a cop pulled both men over for speeding, but later found drug parphanilla in the car. The cop later told Jay and Silent Bob they had two choices: Either go into drug rehab or get sent to a state penitentary. Jay and Silent Bob both chose the rehab route, and now Jay and Silent Bob are clean and sober, however they still sell drugs outside of the local Moobys store in Jersey (Due to Dante and Randal banning both men from ever showing up at the Quik Stop as seen in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) However, the ban was later lifted when Jay and Silent Bob gave some money to Dante and Randal so that they could gain ownership of the Quik Stop. (It's assumed that Jay and Silent Bob got the money from both their drug deals as well as residual checks from the Bluntman and The Chronic movie.)
During his time in rehab, Jay has since found religion. (Possibly inspired by the events both Jay and Silent Bob encountered in Dogma)
Sexuality?
The Kevin Smith movies (particularly Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) play on the question of both characters' sexuality, mostly Jay's, even though Jay himself insists in Dogma that the two are "hetero life-mates." Both have had relationships with women at one time or another, such as Jay's relationship with Shannon Elizabeth's character Justice in J&SBSB and Bob's mention of a relationship with Amy in Chasing Amy.
The suspicion that Jay is a repressed bisexual is supported by dialogue in all of the first four View Askewniverse films.
Also, in issue #2 of the presumably canonical Chasing Dogma comic series, Jay launches into a lengthy and thoroughly impassioned impromptu speech on gay rights and tolerance from a clearly personal perspective before noticing Silent Bob's astonished expression and brushing the matter off rather unconvincingly. Despite the large number of Jay's aspersions to the contrary, it is generally assumed, however, that Silent Bob is indeed heterosexual.
As hinted at in one of the Q&A sessions on the An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD, some of Smith's fans are disappointed, upset and/or confused over the apparent contradiction that Jay appears to be proven conclusively to be a heterosexual in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as he spends much of the film in love with the jewel-thief Justice (Shannon Elizabeth) and ends up "getting the girl" in a way which suggests he feels no inner conflict despite his previously-indicated sexuality. One explanation is that this is just Jay's ever-deeper denial of his true sexual orientation (although nothing in the film truly suggests this), another is that the character is in fact happily bisexual, although perhaps is still not self-aware on this matter.
Template:Spoiler In Clerks II, Jay and Silent Bob are standing near a wall at the Moobys store that both Dante and Randal now work for after the Quik-Stop burned down with the wall scrawled with the words "Eat Pussy". When Dante's fiancee comes to confront both Jay and Silent Bob, although she never asks both men anything, Jay replies by saying "Yeah, we do!". Whether this is Jay continuing to deny his sexuality or not is debatable.
Clerks II also shows that although Jay and Silent Bob are not into beastiality, both men find it amusing to watch.
Silent Bob Hidden History
When filming Dogma, actor Ben Affleck, during the third take of the train fight, shouted "Schüler Bob!" (schüler meaning schoolboy in German). When told that there was no real reason to keep it in the movie (it was an inside joke between Smith and Affleck), Ben Affleck created a reason for it.
Throughout time, Affleck's character, Bartleby, had been thwarted in his evil plots by the same mysterious warrior, whom he never got to see. When he is finally ready to kill the Last Scion, his enemy-through-time grabs him, stopping him once more and revealing himself to be Silent Bob. Finally seeing his enemy's true face, he calls out his name in the angelic tongue (which Affleck decided was a butchered German): Schüler Bob.
This makes no sense, however, because Bartleby had been completely pacifist up until that point in the movie.
Affleck would also state on the DVD of Dogma that Silent Bob was really a Germanic spirit.
Bluntman and Chronic
In Chasing Amy the characters Banky Edwards and Holden McNeil work on a comic titled Bluntman and Chronic which is inspired by Jay and Bob. In the storyline of Bluntman and Chronic, as depicted in the actual Bluntman and Chronic comic distributed by Graphitti Designs, Silent Bob wins ten billion dollars from a scratch off lottery ticket and they decide to become superheroes. Thus they get fitted out for costumes, an underground lair and tons of cool gadgets and fight super villains. Jay and Bob have a scene in Chasing Amy where they meet with Holden to pick up the cash they are owed due to character likeness issues. The main plot of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is Jay and Bob making a trip to Hollywood to foil the production of a Bluntman and Chronic movie. Bluntman and Chronic are used somewhat akin to how South Park's Terrance and Phillip are used: both as a joke and as a way for the author to comment on how their own work is seen. Eventually, they meet the stars playing the movie versions of themselves: Jason Biggs is playing Silent Bob/Bluntman, and James Van Der Beek plays Jay/Chronic.
Silent Bob quotes
Template:Spoiler Silent Bob speaks at least one line in each of the View Askewniverse films (usually near the close of the movie), as well as during 3 episodes of the animated series. They include the following:
"Y'know there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude, but they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of them just cheat on you."
Silent Bob says this to the character Dante in regards to trouble he's having with his girlfriend. In actuality, Silent Bob was never meant to speak this line; Jay was supposed to. Jason Mewes, however, was having trouble reading the line so Kevin Smith decided to take it instead. Had Mewes not had difficulty with the line, it is likely that Silent Bob would never have said anything in any future film either.
The quote is used at the end of the song "Bad Case of Broken Heart" by the pop rock band The Ataris.
"Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
This is a quote Silent Bob borrows from the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back. In the film, Silent Bob has recently seen the Star Wars trilogy and is obsessed with tapping into his Jedi mind powers and trying to levitate objects. Near the end of the film, Silent Bob is dangling from a rope backstage a game show and trying desperately to levitate a VHS cassette tape into his hands. Unbeknownst to Silent Bob, a character named Willam Black kicks the stage and the tape mysteriously rises into Silent Bob's hands. Silent Bob is then able to use the cassette tape to aid his friend, Brodie.
Considering the science fiction and comic book aspect of the film, this is a very appropriate line for Silent Bob in the film. Originally, in The Empire Strikes Back, the line is spoken by Yoda.
Oddly enough, Silent Bob initially had even more dialogue. On the Mallrats 10th Anniversary Edition of the film, there is an extended version of the film in addition to the original theatric release. In this extended cut, Silent Bob's dialogue is as follows:
Jay: "Hey, it was out of your reach, how the hell did you get it?"
(Silent Bob shrugs)
Jay:"The Jedi mind trick! Holy shit, motherfucker, Yoda and shit!"
Silent Bob: "Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
Jay: "Holy shit, you spoke!"
Silent Bob: "I just never had anything good to say before."
Near the closing of the film, Bob speaks to Holden at length of his former girlfriend, Amy. Bob's speech is a turning point in the film, as it helps the main character, Holden McNeil, contrive a plan to solve his problems with Alyssa. Bob's speech also invokes the title, as he says he's been "chasing Amy."
Silent Bob: [to Holden] "So there's me an' Amy, and we're all inseparable, right? Just big time in love. And then about four months in, I ask about the ex-boyfriend. Dumb move, I know, but you know how it is - you don't really want to know, but you just have to... stupid guy bullshit. Anyway she starts telling me all about him - how they dated for years, lived together, her mother likes me better, blah, blah, blah - and I'm okay. But then she tells me that a couple times, he brought other people to bed with them - ménage a trois, I believe it's called. Now this just blows my mind. I mean, I'm not used to that sort of thing, right? I was raised Catholic."
Jay: Saint Shithead.
[Silent Bob backhands him. Jay raises his fist as if to strike]
Silent Bob: "Do something."
Silent Bob: [to Holden] "So I get weirded out, and just start blasting her, right? This is the only way I can deal with it - by calling her a slut, and telling her that she was used - I mean, I'm out for blood I want to hurt her - because I don't know how to deal with what I'm feeling. And I'm like "What the fuck is wrong with you?" and she's telling me that it was that time, in that place, and she didn't do anything wrong, so she's not gonna apologize. So I tell her it's over, and I walk."
Jay: Fuckin-A.
Silent Bob: "No, idiot. It was a mistake. I wasn't disgusted with her, I was afraid. At that moment, I felt small - like I'd lacked experience, like I'd never be on her level or never be enough for her or something. And what I didn't get was that she didn't care. She wasn't looking for that guy anymore. She was looking for me, for the Bob. But by the time I realized this, it was too late, you know. She'd moved on, and all I had to show for it was some foolish pride, which then gave way to regret. She was the girl, I know that now. But I pushed her away..."
[Silent Bob lights a cigarette]
Silent Bob: "So I've spent every day since then chasing Amy..."
[takes a drag from his smoke]
Silent Bob: "So to speak."
Bob makes a Star Wars reference at the end of this scene with another quote from Yoda, this time "Do, or do not. There is no try.", directed towards Holden's attitude to his relationship with Alyssa.
"No ticket."
Silent Bob says this to a frightened passenger who has just witnessed him toss Ben Affleck's Bartleby character out of a moving train. The line is a reference to a scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where it is spoken by Harrison Ford under similar circumstances on a Zeppelin.
"Thanks."
Silent Bob's response to the line spoken by Rufus (Chris Rock) to Jay before his return to Heaven: "And if you clean up your language, I just might put in a good word for you two."
A deleted scene had Silent Bob and Jay singing a version of the Fat Albert theme song.
"THE SIGN, ON THE BACK OF THE CAR, SAID 'CRITTERS OF HOLLYWOOD', YOU DUMB FUCK!"
Silent Bob says this after attempting to play a type of charades game with Jay, trying to tell him who just kidnapped the orangutan they had with them. After various attempts to try to get Jay to understand, he grabbed Jay by his jacket and shouted this quote into his face. Afterwards, Jay remarked "Say it, don't spray it". This is to indicate the first time Silent Bob shows any hostility towards Jay's bumbling exploits.
"Oh, but I think it is... We had a deal with you, on the comics remember, for likeness rights, and as we're not only the artistic basis, but also obviously the character basis, for your intellectual property, Bluntman and Chronic, when said property was optioned by Miramax Films, you were legally obliged to secure our permission to transfer the concept to another medium. As you failed to do that, Banky, you are in breach of the original contract, ergo you find yourself in a very actionable position."
Silent Bob produces this line near the end of the film in response to Banky Edwards attempting to shrug off the whole reason Jay and Bob have come to stop the Bluntman and Chronic movie. After Bob has finished Jay breaks his surprised silence by simply agreeing, "Yeah." This is a reference to Kevin Smith's inside knowledge of the comic book industry and how it works.
Quotes from Clerks: The Animated Series
"And I'm Silent Bob."
Silent Bob says this while introducing himself with Jay for their "Safety Tips" at the end of the episode.
"Word."
Silent Bob says this as a way of agreeing with Jay about his tip to tie your food in the trees at night while camping so you don't attract bears.
"No Problem."
Silent Bob says this after the little girl thanks them for the tip.
"Bear this tip in mind!"
Silent Bob says this to complete Jay's words "So when you're out camping...". They both finish by chuckling to themselves.
This takes place during "Rainy Day Fun with Jay & Silent Bob".
"That's Silent Bob."
Silent Bob says this after the little girl accidentally calls him "Silly Bob".
"That's right! Now how would you, and you at home, like to learn the secret? First, get your mom's permission to use the scissors, find a piece of paper, and 3 pieces of tape, and an ordinary drinking glass!"
Silent Bob says this so that the kids and us at home can learn how to make a coin disappear from underneath a glass, as Jay had just demonstrated with the kids.
"Doesn't mean you can't have a parade."
Silent Bob says this to complete Jay's words "And remember, just because it rains...". After Silent Bob speaks, Jay says "What?!". After the little girl tells her friend "Now, take off your shirt!", Jay and Silent Bob chuckle to themselves.
"We do the Science Sez segments, got it?"
Silent Bob says this after throwing a garbage can at Charles Barkley, who had just got beaten up by Jay and Silent Bob for starting the Science Sez segment behind their backs.
Etymology of Jay's Vocabulary
Jay's mannerisms and phrases have always been a bit of a mystery. He says things like "snoochie-boochies," and "nugga-nooch." These evolved from things he said when he was around the 13-16 age group. In An Evening with Kevin Smith the origin and development of Jay's original colloquialisms are revealed as being something like this:
- He started with "neh," such as "I'm gonna fuck your mom, neh."
- He then progressed to "nootch," making his suffix a little longer.
- Then, "snootch," adding a letter.
- He added to that to create "snoochie-boochies," adding a lot of length.
- Then he went crazy with things such as "snigi-nigi-nooch," being a lot longer than "neh," by the way.
- He ended up shortening it to "snoogans," in order to encompass all previous forms of the word.
Originally, the phrase conveyed a passive/apologetic air of "just kidding, don't kick my ass" (e.g. "Maybe I'll go fuck your mom, Neh"), but it is now most commonly used as a celebratory exclamation (e.g. "Snootch to the Nootch!"). As he and Silent Bob jump into a fight with the hockey playing demon-teens from Dogma he exclaims, "Snootch to the mothafuckin' nooootch!"
It should also be noted his use of the word "Bong", which is used as an affirmative or exclamation of happiness. In Dogma, after finding out that Beth, the female lead, would have sex with him if they had five minutes left to live he remarks "She's a slut, bong." It has also been extended to a longer form: "bonnnnng". This version of the word is used extensively in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, in places where previously he would have used some form of "snoogans."
Also, Jay often uses the terms "snooch", "pooch", and "nooch", and other variations of those words within Clerks: The Animated Series, such as when he greets his fellow Little League teammates with "Snoochie poochie little noochies". In another episode we see an animated older version of Jay writing in his computer journal (just before leaving with his "granddaughter"): "Snooch to the nooch".